


Sleep, (Don’t) Dream, Repeat

by PastaLover23



Category: Bleach
Genre: Bleach timeline, Hollow Ichigo just needs a friend, Ichigo needs some serious help, Like, Lots of other stuff, Original Female Character - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, They both do, WOO, What timeline?, YouTube, he’s only 15, ichigo needs someone too, kisuke is a manipulative jerk but we love him, lots of references, more characters than I know what do with, no beta-we die like men, or would it be poor bois??, poor boi, screw the timeline, so does Uryuu, so does Zangetsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2020-10-01 16:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20332930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastaLover23/pseuds/PastaLover23
Summary: A random Youtuber somehow finds her way into the Bleach universe, in a very strange and untimely fashion. Now, all she wants is to find a way to get home, and stay there, while attempting to get some actual sleep and not screw up the  timeline.Oh, and possibly get Zangetsu to stop trying to murder her every second they get. After all, their methods of murder are way too traumatic to live with.Inspired “Sleep and Be Killed” by Akatsuki’s  a Bang on Fanfiction.net





	1. Chapter 1: At Night, We Dream

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is just a random fic idea, like all my other story ideas, that I decided to attempt to write about. 
> 
> It is heavily inspired by the story ‘Sleep and Be Killed’ by Akatsuki’s a bang on Fanfiction.net
> 
> Hope whoever’s reading this enjoys :)

“And that ladies and gentlemen wraps up today’s video.” The sound of an up beat outro filled the open space of a soundproofed studio room. The girl who had been speaking aloud in the empty room, and into a large microphone, let out a loud sigh as she removed a pair of headphones from her ears and laid them at her neck. She walked over to the tripod holding a camcorder, which had been recording her performance.

She had been performing a vocal cover of one of her favorite songs, Somebody to Love, by one her all time favorite groups, Queen. The voice control she had used for this particular song, backed up by timed audio recordings she had been listening through her headphones. She hoped that the final result turned out well as retakes were often a pain. She turned off the camera which had been recording her audio.

She wiped her brow to relieve her face from sweat, and grabbed a water bottle which had been lying at her feet. She gulped down the water before capping it. “Damn, need to work on my pitch a bit more.” Although she thought herself to be a decent singer, she was under no illusion that she was a perfect one. Practice always makes perfect, even if it was a pain and eventually made your throat sore from hours of singing. She let out a sigh before moving across the room to plop down into a red gaming chair and roll over to a PC with a wire connecting it to the camera. The outro music had played by accident, most likely due to black and white tuxedo cat sprawled over her keyboard. Thankfully, since it had played right after she had stated her usual outro, she could edit out herself walking away and messing with the camera.

The cat which had almost messed up her video sat on top of the black keys with his eyes staring at his owner questioningly. The girl frowned, glaring at the cat. “You Mister Penguin are an ass” the girl growled as she reached to pet the cat between the ears. The two stared at each other for a few moments, one trying to be angry while the other sleepy, before she sighed. “You’re lucky your endearing.”

The buzzing of a phone caught the teenager’s attention. She picked it up and tapped the screen, which displayed a picture of herself and her cat, Mister Penguin, or just Penguin. Her eyes momentarily lingered on the picture she had taken last year, the year she had gotten her little baby as a kitten. She glanced at herself on the screen. Bright amber eyes stared back at her on a soft face with dark brown hair and newly done platinum blonde highlights. Her little cat baby on the other hand had been a mere ten week old kitten when she had got him.

The buzzing of her phone brought her out of thoughts, and she pressed the answer button, not really bothering to look at the caller ID. “Faust here with nothing but sarcasm,” she answered, leaning back into her chair.

“Yo Brook, where ya at. I thought you said you were gonna head to the library after seven. It’s already noon you jerk!” A familiar voice yelled into the phone, hurting the girl’s ears. She held the phone a few inches away from her ear before bringing it back. “You didn’t have to yell Rose,” the teen said.

“Well that’s not my fault is it. You, Brooklyn Faust, are an unpunctual little brat,” The girl on the other end of the phone, Rose, replied, lowering her voice into a more casual tone. At least now she wasn’t speaking at a volume capable of damaging eardrums.

“Wow Rosy, didn’t peg you for the lecturing type. You sound just like me when I’m yelling at Penguin. Don’t tell me,” Brooklyn paused for a second for dramatic effect, “you and Mister Penguin have been scheming behind my back?”

A slapping noise of what probably was Rose’s hand to her face made her laugh out loud. “I kid, I kid. But seriously Rose, sorry about that. I was recording my latest cover.”

“Well you could have told me. I’ve been here for the last half hour waiting for your dumb ass to appear. You going to come anytime soon or no?” The poor girl on the end of the phone sounded resigned, but not at all too sad or disappointed. But it was still enough to make Brook feel bad.

“Yeah, probably better just to cancel for today. I’ll send you a picture of the calculus notes later today with the steps. Still don’t know why you want a head start when your only starting pre-cal, but you do you. Is that fine?”

“Yeah,” Rose replied. “That’s fine, just don’t forget about it you dingus. I had to cancel my date with Madison because of you. So next time you see him, you better apologize to him for making us miss out on Netflix n Chill.”

Brooklyn made a disgusted face at that. “Fine, fine. I’ll apologize to your boyfriend for making him miss out on sex. Is that all?”

“You're just jealous cause you’re gonna be forever single.” The smirk from Rose was visible even if Brooklyn couldn’t see it. “Anyways, see ya.” The phone hung up with a loud click on the other end and the screen fading to its home setting.

The girl let out a loud and over dramatic sigh, slouching back into her chair and placing her phone back on the computer table. She sat there for a few moments, closing her eyes for a few brief moments, before opening them again.

“I’m gonna go take a nap, okay Peng? Keep an on the fort for me” The teen said as she got up to leave for her room. She lived in a small apartment with two rooms and a decently sized living room and kitchen. It was a homey place which she enjoyed greatly. As she was leaving her little homemade studio, she heard the jingle of a cat collar. Her eyes fell to her cat which had decided that he wanted to follow his master to bed, even if it was only noon.

“Time for a cat nap amirite?” She said to her cat, only to laugh to herself. “Oh I love puns,” she said joyfully even if she was talking to herself. She reached her room and plopped herself down on the twin sized bed. She sparingly grabbed a Calculus book from a book shelf and placed it at her bedside as a reminder for when she woke up.

Her room was decorated with posters and and books of all kinds. She had all her books organized into genres and types, as well as by title. She was a little OCD with organization, but it had always helped her find the things she had been looking for. There were manga, books on literature, books on art, books on history, books on animals, and a bunch of designated school textbooks. As she laid down on her bed, and wrapped herself in a blanket, barely noticing her cat coming to rest beside her head on a pillow, she briefly glanced towards her manga collection which resided in her open closet. As she faded into sleep, she distantly remembered that she was going to cover one of the opening songs of the anime Bleach the next day. She really should practice her Japanese when she has the time.

* * *

  
Amber eyes blinked open slowly, still blurry from sleep. Brooklyn reached an arm up to rub the drowsiness out of her eyes, and reached with her other arm in an attempt to try to grab her phone, forgetting that she had left it at her desk. She froze in confusion at the touch of something smooth and cool and solid.

“Huh?” She muttered before actually blinking to full awareness, only to repeat the action numerous times as she stared uncomprehendingly at her new surroundings.

“This is not where I fell asleep…” she whispered as she gazed with incredulity at what she was seeing. She distinctly remembered falling asleep in her bed, with her cat. She also knew for a fact that she had not consumed any drugs, unless someone had accidentally dropped hallucinogens in her water bottle in the water bottle factory.

Clear blue skies reflected against the almost smooth surfaces of her surroundings, which looked to be tall skyscrapers. The skyscrapers seemed to appear every way in which she looked. They didn’t seem to have an end, or even beginning. What she found odd, though, was how every building seemed to be in a horizontal angle. She would’ve stayed confused, until she looked down to where she was lying, and almost let out a scream.

The buildings weren’t the only things being sideways, Brook was also sideways, laying on the side of a massive skyscraper and looking down to what seemed like a reflective, yet bottomless abyss.

“This isn’t real, this can’t be real,” she frantically screeched after she let out a miniature shriek of terror. She shakily stood up on wobbly and unstable legs. “Ok Brook, now is not the time for stupid Acrophobia to takeover.”

Seeing as she wasn’t about to full to her untimely demise, no matter what her brain was saying, she turned around in the opposite direction to look up at the sky. “Ok, so seeing as this is most likely some messed up dream, best place to go is up,” and with that messed up sense of logic, she started to walk forward, or upwards, in a literal sense.

As Brook walked up, she continued to look around. There was no color in this place except for blue. Just blue, blue and more blue, whether it be the light sky blue of the literal sky, or the dark shaded blue of the buildings. It was kind of starting to piss her off for no other reason than just for being blue. The odd cloud here and there made her feel a little better about her messed up dream, but still, couldn’t her mind be at least a little more creative?

An ominous chill brushed by her shoulders, causing her to shiver and wrap her arms around herself. “What was that,” she whispered, pausing where she stood and looking around in confusion. That is, until the feeling of something cold and strong wrapped around one of her legs and pulled, causing her to face plant quite painfully against the surface of the skyscraper.

“What the hell!” Brook yelled, sitting up and whirled around to face whatever had tripped her, despite the warm liquid falling from her nose and the pain that came with it. She froze, though, when she came face to face with the being crouching down in front of her with a scowl on its face and a haunting, inhuman, gaze.

**“Tch”** the being scoffed with a glare, staring down at her with piercing golden eyes surrounded by pitch black sclera. A long sword resided in one of its pale-no white-hands, with the blade resting at the base of their neck. It resembled a steak knife, but it was much too large, and much too big. The being was clad in monochrome colors, something that shouldn’t be possible anywhere except in a dream. But with a dripping bloody nose, which was beginning to feel more like a fracture than a casual bleed, she was starting to doubt whatever the hell was going on. She was also contemplating the idea that she was in some way high on drugs even if she had never taken any before. It was a theory that she hoped, the terrified type of hope, was true.

**“Now what do we have here,”** the thing’s distorted voice asked with a deep scowl, lips pulled down into a deep frown.

Brooklyn didn’t respond, feeling thoroughly creeped out. The thing, or person, or whatever they were was not normal. Not with the unusually sharp teeth that almost resembled fangs and the pale blue tongue that reminded her too much of her cousin’s pet Skink. She nervously attempted to scoot back, but the swift motion of the large blade slamming down harshly to where her hand had been moments before caused her to reevaluate her actions.

And her life.

She was also fairly sure she was gonna die, but pushed down that thought process, still trying to persuade herself this was all a dream.

“U-um” she stuttered, eyes wide in both fear and shock as her amber eyes locked on where the blade had crashed into. The blade had gone into the building and buried itself at least a few feet deep. Considering the guy in front of her hadn’t even put on a sweat, she assumed that this meant he was freakishly strong.

And it really wasn’t helping her with her ‘I-Am-Going-To-Die’ mentality.

**“Either answer or get stabbed, which one do ya want brat?”** The being, which seemed awfully familiar to her ( but this wasn’t the time or place ), growled in annoyance, obviously getting impatient, what with the eye twitch and murderous aura they were showing. Brooklyn had no doubt that this guy would make due with his promise as he was likely a) clinically insane; b) a homicidal sociopath; or c) both.

“B-Brook” she managed to stutter out, although slightly garbled from her broken nose and slightly chattering teeth.

The white and black being cocked its head to the side, similar to a cat, with calculating and analytical eyes. The being then smirked, something which seemed cruel and bloodthirsty, and much too large for the average human face.

**“Ya know, invading someone’s home without announcing yourself is just terrible manners. Someone ought ta teach ya a lesson in respect.”** The white figure said, almost tauntingly, and his words caused Brooklyn to fear for her life. She really was starting to think that this wasn’t a dream.

“I-I don’t think that’s necessary. Just point me in the right direction and I’ll be out of your way” Brook said nervously. Her gut was screaming at her to run, but she was still paralyzed with fear.

Her body wouldn’t move no matter what her mind screamed, even as she saw the twitch of a white hand in a gripping motion at the hilt of that damn oversized sword.

The thing smiled at her response, before it moved before she could even blink. The next thing Brooklyn knew was an intense pain in her chest which seemed to spread throughout her body. Her nerves seemed to light on fire from the pain and she wanted to scream, but all that came out was a choked gurgle and a cough of blood dripping down her mouth.

“Th-the fuck” she rasped, raising a hand to the blunt end of the blade even though she knew most of it had just pierced through her body and was most likely sticking out through her back. The thing in front of her gave her a bloodthirsty grin, full of sharp white teeth and a red glint to golden eyes.

Time seemed to stand still as she stared at the person in front of her, everything seeming to click in the worst imaginable way.

She blinked once, uncomprehendingly, still staring at the oversized steak knife which her hand was smearing blood over. She was ignorant of the blood spilling from her lips and the blood falling on the floor from her wound, too busy focusing on the roaring in her ears and the slow, but agonizing spread of painpainpainagonypain.

Another blink of amber eyes, and Brooklyn Faust felt her eyes shoot open as she screamed bloody murder in her own room.


	2. Dreaming is Believing Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up here again is not fun. It hasn’t even been a full twelve hours yet!!

Brooklyn panted in her bed, breathing harshly and heavily. She could feel her heart racing miles a minute within her chest, and could feel the blood roaring in her ears. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she gasped out loud to herself as a sudden feeling of nausea hit her before she raced to the bathroom.

She almost threw up on the floor, but luckily managed to make it to the toilet in time. She stood on her knees vomiting and gasping as her throat convulsed while she gagged and spat out burning bile. She could see the scene running over and over in her mind, the large sword entering her chest, the sudden agonizing sensation of pain, and the feeling that she was about to die.

She almost heaved again at the thought, but managed to contain the bile that rested at the back of her throat.  
“It was just a dream,” she said sternly to herself, standing up slowly and making her way to the sink. “Just a dr-“ she froze when she saw her face in the mirror. Her nose was bleeding and dried blood rested above her mouth and smeared slightly over her lips. There was no pain, but the blood dripping down her face was undeniably real. Her eyes widened, and she hastily hurried to rinse her mouth, both inside and out.

“This can’t be happening,” she said to herself. This wasn’t some crappy fanfic where she somehow ends up somewhere else. It was just a dream and a fluke and she probably dreamed it all up and just had a bloody nose in her sleep, no matter how unlikely that had to be. That just had to be it. That’s got to be it

With her heart slightly more calm than it was a few moments ago, Brooklyn walked outside of the bathroom back to her bed and sat down on the edge in exhaustion. She noticed that her cat had left the room, but ignored it for the time being.

She glanced at the clock next to the calculus textbook on her bed stand, seeing how it was only 6:52 in the evening. She had only slept for a few hours. She let out an exhausted sigh. “Better get started on Rose’s notes” she muttered to herself, getting up and grabbing the thick book. She then began to walk towards the kitchen, where she would do the notes and grab an evening snack, but stopped short when she glanced at her closet.

She stared at her manga collection, eyes sweeping to one series in particular. She knew she had recognized the person in her weird dream from somewhere. The guy had been a character in the series, a sword spirit which she vaguely remembered being called a Zan-something. The Zan-something was a cross between a thing called a Hollow and Shinigami-or soul reaper-if she remembered correctly. She wasn’t entirely sure as she hadn’t read the manga series for a long while, or caught herself up to the latest chapters or episodes. She shrugged to herself, before continuing on her way, trying to push the weird dream and her thoughts of the manga series about swords and death aside.

* * *

The next time her strange and traumatic dream happened was the next time she fell asleep in her own bed, a few hours after her previous nap. Instead of waking up a groggy mess, which she would have much rather preferred, she blinked wide awake in a very familiar and very blue environment.

“No no no no No!” She screeched, standing up and grasping her head while beginning to panic. “This can NOT be happening!”

“Ok, ok,” she said to herself, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating in this weird dream of hers. She took a few deep breaths, focusing on breathing slowly. She focused on slowing her breath, counting mentally as she slowly breathed in and out. In and out. In. Out. All the while trying to repress the thought that she shouldn’t be hyperventilating if this was really a dream.

When she finally felt calm, or at least calm enough not to drop and start bawling like a toddler, which seemed to take forever but was only a few minutes, she resigned herself to facing this dream. It had taken her a few moments when she had been awake in her room to recognize what this place was. Since she had vaguely remembered this place from Bleach, she had decided to do some online research before she went back to sleep. She had eventually found the information she needed on an anime wiki, specifically, the Bleach anime character wiki. She was apparently in the inner world, or mindscape place of Ichigo Kurosaki. So, that meant the occupant she dreamed of killing her was most likely the orange haired teenager’s inner hollow, otherwise known as Ichigo’s Zan-something. She still didn’t remember what the specific title of Shinigami blades was, or the name of the Hollow, but she knew that she would probably remember eventually.

She let out a loud sigh, hoping to God, Jashin, Gaia, Chronos, the heavenly Buddha, or whatever higher entity that there was, that the stupid Hollow thing wouldn’t kill her again and make this into another nightmare. But, at the sound of a blade scraping against the floor and the loud sound of a destroyed building crumbling to the ground innear distance, Brooklyn knew she had prayed too soon.

She let out a mild “eep” and looked around wildly. She could hear mild cursing in the distance but couldn’t determine where it was coming from. All she knew was that she had to hide. Like now.

She then facepalmed once she realized one small error of her plan. “How the fuck am I supposed to hide in a place like this!” She screamed, before slapping a hand over her mouth in terror.

She just royally screwed up.

Everything had just gotten eerily quiet, which made her anxiety begin to spike and climb. ‘Me and my fat mouth’ she internally whimpered as she glanced around warily, internally ticking back a mental clock, waiting for her time, and luck, to run out once more.

**“Oi”** a familiar voice said from behind her which caused her to jump back in surprise. She almost fell on her ass again, like the first time, but was able to barely manage to gain her balance just in time to stand up right and whirl around. The white colored Zan-something Hollow spirit thing stared at her with a golden glare, looking both irritated and curious at the same time. It was a weird combination, but with the way the Hollow normally acted, in both the anime and manga, from what she recalled, it wasn’t too weird a look.

“Hi,” she squeaked, trying to put on a small facade of confidence, even though the giant sword the other held resting on his shoulder terrified the crap out of her. She really didn’t feel like getting stabbed again. That shit actually hurt

**“What don’t ya get about staying out of other people’s places? What are ya, brain dead?”** The Hollow asked in his warped voice, tilting its head to the side.

He then smirked.** “Guess ya didn’t learn that your lesson the first time did ya,”** he asked rhetorically while lifting his giant sword as if to cleave her in two.

“Wait, wait, wait!” She all but screamed, moving her hands wildly in front of her in an attempt to placate the Hollow. “I didn’t come here on purpose, I don’t even know I got here,” she yelled, before closing her eyes in fear when she heard the swish of metal in the air. ‘I’m so dead’ she thought, before yelling the first thing that came to mind. “Soul Society is a conspiracy!”

The sound of metal crashing into the side of a building, as well as the faintest brush of air across her body, and the silence which followed, caused her to shut her eyes, and lock up. When nothing happened, and no pain was felt, she cautiously looked up, only to let out a “meep” in surprise at the closeness of the Hollow. He was maybe at least a few inches away from her face, purposely getting close, and looking at her through harsh golden eyes. She had thought he looked irritated before, but now he seemed almost livid, if the snarl and exposure of sharp teeth was anything to go by. She wasn’t sure whether he was now mad at her or what she had said, but she wisely decided not to ask.

**“What.”** Hollow Zangetsu-if she finally recalled right- asked darkly, his aura intensifying in a way which caused Brooklyn to gasp for breath and begin to slightly wheeze. A strange pressure seemed to build up all around her, causing her to sink to her knees and be almost unable to hold herself up.

The pressure was pushing her down and seemed as if it was intentionally trying to flatten her like a pancake. She tried to resist, but every time she seemed to struggle, the force seemed to push down even more, until it was now painful and burning on her body. “S-Soul So-Society w-was a Con-conspiracy,” she gasped out from the pain, trying to appease the Hollow enough to make him stop.. “I-ichigo-“ her words lodged in her throat as soon as she mentioned the shonen protagonist’s name. The pressure suddenly felt unbearable, causing her to gasp and struggle for oxygen. Black spots began to fill her vision, as she felt her lungs scream for air. She began to wheeze and choke, all the while attempting to move her body. ‘This was it,’ she thought whilst terrified. ‘I’m gonna die.’

But, in a matter of seconds, the dark and oppressing pressure suddenly left, allowing her to finally breath. She collapsed completely on the ground, gasping loudly as she curled up tightly into a fetal position. Her eyes were bleary and every time she tried to look with watery eyes, the world spun and blurred.

She seemed to stay in that position for a long while, before finally mustering whatever strength she had to look up, still panting for air as her vision danced. The absence of the Hollow and her death peaked her morbid curiosity. When she lifted her head, she caught sight of someone new, and the Hollow now under his foot and bound tightly with blue energy. The Hollow seemed to struggle in an attempt to escape from the grasp of the blue chains, but was unable to do anything if the tightening of the chains were anything to go by and the nonstop, but faded sound, of cursing. The blade which had been in the other's hand was now in the newcomer’s as he stared at her through yellow shades.

She knew she was spending an uncomfortable amount of time staring, and was most likely being expected to speak, but she was still extremely dizzy and on the verge of passing completely out. Before the darkness could completely enclose her vision, she did tiredly try to speak. But, even with all her effort, the only thing she was able to get out was a single world before she fell into oblivion.

“Zangetsu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of had the idea-and correct me if I’m wrong- that Zangetsu and Old Man Zangetsu/Ywatch argued and quarreled with each other over who would be Ichigo’s primary power source. And, in the series, it was mainly Old man Zangetsu since he and Zangetsu made an agreement. 
> 
> In my story, the two argue a lot, but Old Man zangetsu is more powerful at the moment since only he is recognized by Ichigo as his blade. Due to this, he has the ability to suppress Hollow Zangetsu. Also, this story takes place after the Shattered Shaft, but before Ichigo and co. enter Soul Society.
> 
> Also, yes I understand that Shiro/Zangetsu/H.Ichigo is Ichigo’s Shinigami powers, but I’ll discuss that later.


	3. Dreaming Is Believing Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out both Zangetsu have somewhat homicidal tendencies when it comes to protecting their wielder. Who knew?

Amber eyes blinked open slowly as she attempted to regain her bearings. She wasn’t too surprised to not see the ceiling with her room, but at the same time, grew exasperated at the fact that it didn’t happen. The mocking blue skies and vague bouts of sunlight among the skyscrapers just served to make her tense and worried. She was aware that this was probably not a dream now, but that didn’t stop her from still wishing it was.

She slowly sat up, wincing at the soreness of her body. ‘Feels like I was hit with a bus’ she internally grouched. She glanced around, wondering where the Hollow was. Her memory before she passed out was kind of hazy, but she knew that the Hollow had been getting ready to probably kill her. She didn’t remember what happened after the influx of pressure-which she assumed to be spiritual pressure-but she knew that something had stopped it. She just now had to figure out what-

_“I see you are awake”_

-_who_ it was.

She blinked to herself before leaning back on her hands to see a man in what looked to be in a black cloak behind her, balancing on a tall pole. Brown curly locks on an older face, with a yellow visor hiding the color of his eyes.

It took her a few moments to realize who this was, and in turn, visibly react. She hastily stood up and turned around, attempting to create some semblance of distance between the two as she watched him with a wary look.

The Quincy, as that was what the man was seeing as she was still in Ichigo’s mindscape, stared at her with impassive eyes, watching her every move with serious calculation.

“I take it that you want something if you haven’t killed me yet,” she stated, putting up a sense of false bravado. Seeing as how the Hollow had directly killed her the last time, and had tried to do so again, she took that as a sign that she really shouldn’t be here. And judging by the fact that technically both of these two made up the the Protagonist’s Zanpakuto, they had to have shared some sort of similar mindset about her.

Call her what you want, but she anything but stupid.

_“Who are you?”_ the man asked, causing Brook to wince slightly. ‘Straight to the point,’ she internally, and warily thought. She didn’t want to get on this guy’s bad side if she could help it, not like she had already gone and done with the Hollow guy.

She took a small step back and held up two hands in a non threatening manner, doing whatever she could to show this guy that she wasn’t an enemy. She gulped, her mouth dry, as she began to explain herself.

“My names Faust. Brooklyn F- Evelyn Faust. I don’t know how I got here, I barely understand where here is. All I know is that I went to sleep, in my own bed, and the next thing I know is that I’m suddenly waking up here and about to be eviscerated by a fu-freak-a damn butcher knife.” She slightly stumbled over her words, trying not to offend the Spirit in front of her. If the Hollow thing killed her for just simply being here, then she didn’t want this guy here to kill her over her stupid mouth.

The Quincy raised an eyebrow at her words, then lightly jumped off of his perch. He walked slowly around her, analyzing her. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she felt as if she was being surveyed like the livestock being sold at a county fair.

She let out a gulp of air when he finally stopped at least two feet in front of her.

_“You should not be here,”_ he said, to which she let out a laugh at-a hysterical laugh if her ears were to be trusted.

The Quincy spirit cocked his head to the side, a familiar blade appearing in one of his hands.

Brook flinched, taking more steps back, not liking where this was going.

_“The Hollow killed you once before,”_ the spirit stated, it’s gaze never leaving hers. It blinked once in contemplation before continuing, taking a single step in her direction. Her anxiety began to grow as she took one step back, adrenaline beginning to fill her veins and her instincts, once again telling her to flee from the very spot she was in:.

_“Yet you’ve returned here with no visible forms of damage.”_ Another slow step forward and another step back. She wanted to run, no question about that, but if she ran, what good would that do. Hysterically, she knew that if she even attempted to flee, she would be cut down before she even got far.

_“You say you do not know why you are here, despite this being the second time you have arrived.”_

Despite her fear, she nodded her head in agreement, her curiosity beginning to listen to his words despite her slight hysteria in the face of death.

_“Perhaps the solution to this lies in your existence. You were struck down once, yet you are fine. If you are struck down twice…”_ reverberated in her mind, causing her to gawk slightly.

It couldn’t be that simple. It couldn’t be as simple as ‘ die and repeat’ since that was what she was understanding was being said by the opposing spirit.

“T-hat doesn’t make sense!” She exclaimed, a bit too loudly since she winced at the way her voice sounded. “Nothing just dies and comes back to life,” she said, the panic in her voice slightly rising since she knew she was going to die again. She really, really, really, didn’t want to die.

_“Yet here you are,”_ was the spirits only response, as the blade came down. Her widened at the blade falling, and she clenched her eyes shut, she barely felt the coolness of the blade striking her head before she felt herself waking up in a cold sweat in her bed.

* * *

As soon as she disappeared, the Hollow reappeared to stand next to the man in the mindscape. He had a few scrapes in his pale body, but they were slowly fading away. Just a few more minutes and the worst of them, the ones which looked like burns on his forearms, would fade away.

**“Why’d ya let her go! Ya heard wha she said! An’ tha hell did she know that name!”** The hollow said with a dark glare in the Quincy’ direction. He was pissed at how things were turning out, and he didn’t like how the bastard was dealing with all of this.

The Quincy manifestation simply remained quiet, his eyes focused on where the strange girl had vanished as soon as his blade had struck her head. There had been no blood this time. No pain. The blow had simply struck her, and she had vanished like smoke. The last time she had been slain, by the Hollow himself, the lethal wound had killed her slowly, despite how quick her death had came. It was curious. Very curious.

**“Are ya even listen’ to me ya Old man,”** the Hollow asked, tempted to shove to other manifestation, or start a fight. He didn’t like not being in control, even if said control presently belonged to a part of his King’s soul. 

_“I was testing something,”_ the manifestation of Ywatch finally said, which the Hollow raised an eye at.

**“Test’n somethin’?”** He asked in confusion, but still scowled.** “Ya couldn’ have tested things until after we got information?”**

The Quincy eyed him with an irritated look, closer to disdain if the Hollow looked closely, but he ignored it. The feeling between the two was mutual after all.

_“She could barely stand your presence.”_ He stated, referring to the spiritual pressure the Hollow had let out in his anger._ “At least this way we will know if she will continue to come here. We can continue this conversation when she returns.”_

The Hollow let out an irritated growl, anger slowly rising at the stupidly just spouted. **“Ya still could have at least waited.”**

The Quincy just shrugged before leaving the Hollow to himself. He didn’t feel like explaining himself to the Zanpakuto spirit, so he had left him to his own thoughts. The truth was, he was curious. But he was also cautious. That girl, or spirit, had known the name of his wielder’s Zanpakto, which was a curious affair, but a tad off putting. Neither of the two had ever spoken their name aloud when she was here, so how could she know? Was she an invader attempting to harm his young master’s mind? Or was she, as she said, a lost vister, who had no idea how she had arrived here?

He shook his head, getting rid of those thoughts for now. If she returned, things could get problematic for his plans for young Ichigo. If not, then things would return back to normal, and the way things should be.

The Quincy, also known as Zangetsu, stood back atop his meditative pole. He would make sure that his wielder would not proceed as a Shinigami. He would protect him, yes, but the path of a Shinigami was a dangerous and disgraceful one. He refused to let his counterpart, the Shinigami source of power, take control.

He refused to allow it. What kind of Quincy would he be to allow is wielder to live as a Shinigami, a Hollow nonetheless.

It would be a disgrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope I was able to play Zangetsu Ossan right. I wasn’t sure how to portray him and his ideology of keeping Ichigo away from being an actual Shinigami. What he did was stupid and rash though-completely something which I think he got from Ichigo. Shiro was right in this case :).
> 
> Also, their nicknames will be used in later chapters, just didn’t want to do it now since, officially, they , or Ossan, are only known as Zangetsu at this point. They don’t have their nicknames yet. The timeline will make much more sense in future chapters-I promise. Just know that this chapter takes place after Ichigo receives his Zanpakuto back, and is about to begin his days of training with Urahara.


End file.
